You arrived five years after Jerry Jeff Walker and Jimmy Buffet had left butt imprints on many of the same barstools and "sung all the fun out of it." The Keys are not my cup of mango juice, but I know people who still swear by the experience and a couple of embarrassing specimens who grow Hemingway beards. Jerry Jeff did a song/salute to that ilk with a song titled, "Just Another Gringo in Belize." For sunburns, sticky shirts and pulchritude, I prefer Myrtle Beach, but I also put ice in red wine, so I am a barbarian. Crested Butte, Colo. is better than both of them combined. But why travel? It has always amazed me that people will go somewhere else for debauchery when there is so much available locally.
What a story, Bob — that stretch of sand sounds like the real Key West origin myth. I love how you capture both the chaos and the charm that never quite leaves you.
I’m just glad I survived to tell it.
Just discovered two coins from the Atocha in my safe. There will never be another Conch like Mel Fisher.
Damn, Jim, what else you got in there?
Some old handguns my father in law dropped off before going to central America.
You arrived five years after Jerry Jeff Walker and Jimmy Buffet had left butt imprints on many of the same barstools and "sung all the fun out of it." The Keys are not my cup of mango juice, but I know people who still swear by the experience and a couple of embarrassing specimens who grow Hemingway beards. Jerry Jeff did a song/salute to that ilk with a song titled, "Just Another Gringo in Belize." For sunburns, sticky shirts and pulchritude, I prefer Myrtle Beach, but I also put ice in red wine, so I am a barbarian. Crested Butte, Colo. is better than both of them combined. But why travel? It has always amazed me that people will go somewhere else for debauchery when there is so much available locally.
Yeah, that’s me always behind the curve. But I have seen vast amounts of pulchritude in Cayo Hueso.
What a story, Bob — that stretch of sand sounds like the real Key West origin myth. I love how you capture both the chaos and the charm that never quite leaves you.
If you find yourself with a drink in your hand (and your virtual toes in the sand), stop by to read about our Keys adventure. 🌴 https://thebenthalls.substack.com/p/before-we-traveled-the-world-we-survived?r=5ci1ff
–Kelly
Will do, Kelly. Thanks for dropping by Bob’s Diner….
Oh the stories that place could tell.
And you’ve heard most of them.
Starred in a few in fact. A long long time ago!
Cool story!!!
Thank God you left. Otherwise, you'd never have explained to me the dangers of ironing naked.
Not the dangers, the delights…
Wait a minute — severance pay? You guys were holding out on me!
You know what we got paid. So you should know we weren’t holding out much.
Not sure how I found the Diner but..we old Jersey Girls LOVE Diners…
Welcome, Judy. Come back soon…
Have you written a biography yet? 😜